In The Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful.
His Eminence, Sayyed Ali Fadlullah, delivered the two Friday prayer sermons at the Imamain Al-Hassanain Mosque, Jamadi Al-Oula29,1441H/ January 24, 2020 (A.D). Several prominent religious scholars, dignitaries and thousands of believers attended the Jumu’a prayer. Following is an edited text of the sermons
The first sermon
Allah, The Most Exalted, says in His Glorious Book:“And [also for] those who were settled in al-Madinah and [adopted] the faith before them. They love those who emigrated to them and find not any want in their breasts of what the emigrants were given but give [them] preference over themselves, even though they are in privation” [59; 9]. Allah, The Most Exalted, speaks the truth.
What is selfishness?
The biggest problem man suffers from is an individual one: it is when one prioritizes his personal interest over the general one, regardless of how big the price is,and this is the definition of selfishness.Nevertheless,selfishness and loving and appreciating oneself aretwo differentthings. loving oneself in the sense of caring for it and being concerned about it and not hurting is a positive thing that is needed for man’s continuity and to prevent himfrom being frustrated. On the other hand, to be overwhelmed in oneself and not taking others into account in his intentions and goals is selfishness and it is a disease that might become fatal if one does treat it.
Aspects of selfishness
Dear loved ones: Selfishness has regretfully become something that is not shameful!There are some in our society who consider it to becleverness. They claim that the selfish is the one who knows how to live and seize opportunities for his own good. He is the one who seeks to increase his gains even in unfair competition.He is, also,the one who knows how to market himself and does not share others with his knowledge and experience.Selfishness in our society has become the norm to the extent that some havebecome suspicious of those who provide them with a free service, assuming that he must have a certain interest in doing so!
Selfishness, dear loved ones, is of bad consequences no matter how much we try to beautify or philosophize it. It is enough to look at its manifestations on the individual level…Just look at the selfish husband, father or brother who thinks only about himself and does not care about those around him. He only cares about his own ideas and personal preferences, even if they disturb others.
The same thing is true with the selfish wife whocares only about her demands and desires,even if the husband cannot provide them. We also see selfishness in the strongneighbor who does not care about thewelfare of his neighbor, leaving him with no parking to park his car or little water to use.
We also find it when the strong dominates over the weak and does not wait for his turn in a queue or in a civil service facility.
We also find selfishness in the driver who stops his car in the middle of the road to talk to a friend or to buy something from the nearby shop…
Selfishness is not limited to individual or social life, it is also found on the economic level through monopolization of goods and services. On the political level, selfishness is found when one thinks about the interest of his party and sect only, or when, and this is the most dangerous, the one in power uses all means to stay in power. Selfishness consequently is behind the establishment of all dictatorships.
It is, as the saying goes: “like the desert wind that dries everything”. It producesenvy and envy produces hatred and hatred produces division and division leads to weakness… that leads the undermining of the state and the nation.
Dangers of selfishness
Islam was concerned with showing the dangers of selfishness. It explained that Satan was expelled from Heaven when he claimed selfishly that he was better than Adam.It also talked about swallowing the house of Qaroon when he refused to do good …As to how to remove selfishness of the souls,the Messenger(p.) says this involves ”loving for your brother what you love for yourself and hating for him what you hate for yourself”. The Messenger(p.) was able to transform the society of Jahiliya to aunified and cooperating one becomingthe best nation when itrelinquished itsselfishness. He says:“The believers, in their love, mercy, and kindness to one another are like a body: if any part of it is ill, the whole body shares its sleeplessness and fever”.This could nothappen if everybody thinks of his own interest only. It needs sacrifice and thinking about the rest. That is why when a Bedouin entered the masjid and prayed two rak'ahs, then he said to the prophet "O Allah, have mercy on me and on Muhammad and do not have mercy on anyone else." The Messenger of Allah (p.) said:“You have limited something vast”.The need to uproot selfishness
The Messenger(p.) was able to change the mentality of that tribal society into a civilized one, which was most beautifully demonstratedwhen the Ansar(supporters)divided their properties with the Muhajireen (immigrants)as evident in the Ayat we recited above “And [also for] those who were settled in al-Madinah and [adopted] the faith before them. They love those who emigrated to them and find not any want in their breasts of what the emigrants were given but give [them] preference over themselves, even though they are in privation” [59; 9].Allah, The Most Exalted, speaks the truth.This event was the first practical expression ofthat there is no place whatsoever for selfishness in the society of believers.Dear loved ones: the darkest ages of history are the ages in which certain nations were overwhelmed by their selfishness. They abandoned their humanitarianism and sought to usurp the wealth of other nations, and consequently created hatred and led to the spread of poverty.
We, too, practice such selfishness in one form or another in our houses, neighborhoods and places of work. And we have to uproot it from ourselves first so as not to return to a new jahiliya.
Let each of us think of the others, and refuse to be happy if those around him are not and let our slogan be : life can encompass allof us.
The second sermon
Worshippers of Allah, The Most Exalted: I advise you and myself with what Allah, The Most Exalted, warned us… more